News

Full list of road closures announced for Manchester’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display 2024

Here's everything you need to know.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 23rd December 2024

Road closures will be in place as Manchester city centre prepares for its spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

Once the hustle and bustle of Christmas dies down, Boxing Day has been and gone, and we enter the time where nobody knows what day it is, everybody then begins waiting for New Year’s Eve to arrive, and for 2025 to bring new beginnings and a fresh start.

And case you missed it, Manchester City Council confirmed last week that Manchester will be celebrating the occasion with a bang.

Spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks display confirmed for Manchester

Last year was the first year since 2019 and post several COVID lockdowns where Manchester city centre hosting one of its famous fireworks displays that “say goodbye to the old and welcome in the new”, and it went down a huge success with residents and visitors alike – so it makes sense that it would return again for 2024.

Families from all across Greater Manchester are invited to the “fun-filled event” this Tuesday 31 December from 10pm.

This year’s end of the year celebration marks the first time St Peter’s Square has been used for the New Year countdown event, and also the first time that New Year fireworks will be let off from the roof of Manchester Central Library.

Spectacular New Year's Eve firework display confirmed for Manchester
Spectacular New Year’s Eve firework display confirmed for Manchester. Credit: Unsplash, Chris Curry

Around 20,000 people are expected to attend the free to head on down to.

You can expect “high spirits and party tunes” throughout the night in the run-up to the midnight countdown and fireworks – which will end at 12:30am.

The Council says that, in order to ensure “a safe and celebratory event for all”, security staff will be keeping a close eye on revellers to minimise any disruption and allow everyone to see in the new year together.

To best accommodate the event and everyone attending, the following road closures and parking suspensions have been confirmed:

Road closures

From 7:30am – 2pm

  • Peter Street westbound (Mount Street to Lower Mosley Street)
  • Peter Street eastbound (Deansgate to Lower Mosley Street)
  • Oxford Street (Peter Street to Portland Street)
  • George Street (Oxford Street to Dickinson Street)
  • St James Street (Oxford Street to Dickinson Street)
  • Bale Street (Lower Mosley Street to Hall Street)
  • Hall Street (Bale Street to Oxford Street)

From 9pm – 2am

  • Lower Mosley Street (Windmill Street to St Peter’s Square)
  • Princess Street (Cooper Street to George Street)
  • Back George Street (Princess Street to Dickenson Street)

Parking suspensions

From 8am on 29 December – 6am on 2 January

  • Peter Street (Mount Street to Lower Mosley Street)

From 6pm on 30 December – 6am on 1 January

  • Oxford Street (Lower Mosley Street to Portland Street)
  • Lower Mosley Street (Windmill Street to St Peter’s Square)
  • Princess Street (Cooper Street to George Street)
  • George Street (Oxford Street to Princess Street)
  • Back George Street (Princess Street to Dickenson Street)
  • Museum Street (Windmill Street to Peter Street)
  • Southmill (Windmill Street to Bootle Street)
A number of road closures and parking suspensions will be in place / Credit: Unsplash

Portaloo toilet facilities, including accessible toilets will be available on site and the Lloyd Street public toilets will remain open until 1 am.  

Hot drinks and food will be available on site, but alcohol is not permitted.

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There will be no tram services through St Peter’s Square from 8pm on 31 December until the end of the fireworks display.

Full details of Metrolink service and accessible shuttle buses can be found here.

Featured Image – designecologist (via Unsplash)

News

A man from Leigh has been jailed after stabbing his neighbour to death

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A man from Leigh has been convicted and jailed after stabbing his neighbour to death last December.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that 55-year-old Kevin Draper was found to have stabbed Jack O’Brien, 27, multiple times after being let into his house on Siddow Common on Tuesday 3 December 2024.

Police were called to the address at 6:50pm, along with the other emergency services, after Mr O’Brien was taken to a neighbour’s address further along the road, where the occupants phoned for an ambulance.

Sadly, despite the best efforts of all involved, Mr O’Brien he died from his injuries. 

A murder investigation was subsequently launched following his death, and according to GMP, and it was established from CCTV enquiries that Draper had entered Mr O’Brien’s house and was also seen walking away.

Officers who arrived on scene were told that the incident hadn’t occurred at the location they were called to, so they looked for any signs of blood outside and then followed the blood trail back to Draper’s home address – which ultimately led to his arrest the following day when he returned to the street to collect a pair of trainers.

Draper then went on to claim self-defence, meaning the jury at Manchester Crown Court found him not guilty of murder, but did go on to convict him of manslaughter.

Jack O’Brien, who was killed by his neighbour in Leigh last year / Credit: GMP

“This sentencing reflects the severity of Draper’s actions and the tragic loss of Jack O’Brien,” commented Detective Inspector Matthew Hamer, of GMP’s Major Incident Team.

“Our thoughts remain with Jack’s family and friends during this difficult time, and we hope this outcome brings some measure of closure to those affected by Draper’s actions.

“This case reaffirms our commitment to ensuring justice is served and our streets remain safe, and we thank local residents for their cooperation and the officers involved for their diligent work in bringing this case to a resolution.”

Tracy O’Brien, Jack’s mother, also released a powerful statement on behalf of the family.

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“You [Draper] viciously attacked him, causing deep stab wounds that took his life, but you also took mine,” her statement reads.

“I will never be able to touch, hear or hug my boy again – I just have memories, pictures and his ashes.”

Featured Image – GMP

News

What we know about Oasis’ Heaton Park reunion shows based on their first comeback gig in Cardiff

Danny Jones Danny Jones All the info we know about Oasis Live '25 reunion night 1 Cardiff

Ok, so there’s no more need to pinch ourselves or double-take every time we check our phone: Oasis aren’t just back together, they’ve now kicked off the reunion and following those incredible Cardiff scenes, we’re already thinking about what this means for their Heaton Park homecoming.

There simply isn’t a brick-and-mortar Manchester venue big enough to hold as many Manc fans as want, need and deserve to see them back on stage after waiting all this time, so it’s only fitting that barely a month on from Parklife, the massive outdoor space will welcome us all back to witness history.

Quite literally millions of people tuned into various livestreams on Friday evening to see Oasis return at the Principality Stadium, so lots of you will have already seen plenty from the colossal concert – including that bald bloke balancing a pint on his head – but there was, understandably, a lot to take in.

So, with that being said, here’s what we hope, we think, we know about Oasis’ highly anticipated Heaton Park shows based solely on the details we gleaned from Cardiff night one.

The timings (roughly)

For starters, one of the most important things fans will be hoping to know is when Oasis got back on stage, as well as the set times of the other ‘Live ’25‘ support acts.

Liam, as per usual, was the mouthier of the two Gallagher brothers and let the cat out of the bag early on X (Twitter), before being clearly told off by management and deleting the details shortly after; still, it was confirmed that the main event for Friday and Saturday night gets underway at 8:15pm.

However, these things are always subject to change, as both Richard Aschroft and Cast were slightly premature on night one in Cardiff, and who knows what other arenas will be like for the rest of the reunion tour?

Credit: Oasis (via Instagram)/Dianne Bourne (screenshot via X)

The Live ’25 setlist – or at least on night one

Another big debate online that has raged ever since the Oasis reunion was confirmed is the subject of what they’re going to play from their extensive catalogue.

Obviously, most people could rattle off most of the all-time favourites and cobbble together a pretty decent ‘greatest hits’ of Oasis setlist, but people have been more concerned with what the opener, closing track, and encore will be.

Having watched all of these moments back multiple times already, we can confirm the first track was the classic intro ‘F***in’ in the Bushes’, as many fans suspected, followed by ‘Hello’ as the first full song, rather fittingly.

As for the last track in the main running order, the crowd got to bounce up and down to ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ before the legendary ‘Champagne Supernova’ beckoned the very end of the first night in Cardiff.

They’ll still be reactive

That being said, this inaugural comeback show was somewhat of a pilot for the rest of the ‘Live ’25 world tour, which now totals more than 40 dates, and any good artist knows that tweaking the setlist from show to show can be key to not only to success, but keeping things fresh for you and the audience.

As a result, we wouldn’t be surprised if you see Oasis mix things up as the nights roll on, especially when playing multiple gigs in the same city as they’re doing pretty much everywhere for this reunion.

That flexibility isn’t just limited to song choice either: Liam did his famous twist on the ‘Wonderwall’ lyrics and told the crowd, “There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh”, and in case you haven’t seen it already, they also took a moment to honour a late Liverpool star.

Gallagher brothers pay touching tribute to Diogo Jota on first night of Oasis reunion tour
There were lots of little details on night one in Cardiff, but this was a very nice touch from Oasis.

A bigger focus on production than ever

The glimpse at the AV presentation seen above is just a small taster too. From the various clips we’ve seen on social media over the last 24 hours or so, Oasis aren’t just back playing music together, but they’ve levelled significantly in terms of production and stage design.

In fairness, so too has the music indusry as a whole – you’d be hard-pressed to found a tech team that could pull of the pre-gig light-show they put on in the days leading up to night one at the Principality – but it was still cool to see the greatest rock band in the world be given a proper big budget backdrop.

For instance, you can see what flashed on the gigantic screens behind them as they walked out in front of more than 70,000 in Cardiff down below.

What a way to make an entrance…

Blues, through and through

Now, if you’ve ever been to see either of the brothers’ solo shows, you’ll know that football and, more specifically, references to Man City, often feature at some point.

Noel, in particular, has maintained a strong City presence in his set, be it the blue colour palette, the MCFC badge, or even a tall cut-out of manager Pep Guardiola half during most High Flying Birds gigs.

Cardiff night one was no different as his LG instructed the crowd to turn around and do the familiar ‘Poznan’ celebration regularly seen up in the stands of the Etihad Stadium.

The bitterness had turned to banter

It was bits of comedy like this that’s been one of the biggest part we’ve missed about Oasis; both Liam and Noel have always been very humorous in their own ways over the years, but they were never funnier than in those old clips you see of them cracking each other up in their younger days.

Despite being estranged for more than a decade and a half and who knows how many years of bad blood overall, they look to have at least put it to one side and what was once a combative back and forth from a distance has circled back around to brotherly banter – or at least we hope it has.

We’re not going to pretend they absolutely adore all of a sudden, but they’re at least trying and recognising each other’s roles.

They actually seem to like each other again

As you can see, those snaps of them smiling during the first reunion photo shoot back together don’t appear to be just for show.

Seeing the two of them walk out holding hands sent the internet into an absolute frenzy of emotion and had people joking that they were finally going to message their own troublesome relative and at least try to mend fences.

But that was just one small moment.

The duo have always admired and respected their respective talents, but for the first time in even longer than the 16-year hiatus itself, it seems like there’s some genuine love there again. See for yourself:

They’re still as massive as they ever were – if not more so

All this is to say that, in short, Oasis’ first comeback show in Cardiff isn’t just the start of the ‘Live ’25 reunion tour that will span the globe, it’s also confirmation of something people began to question in their lengthy absence…

They really are the biggest and, in so many people’s opinions (including our own), the greatest rock band of all time.

From what we can tell, it feels like one of those watershed music moments where you have be there in person to truly see and believe it – not to be part of some exclusive ‘I was there’ comeback, but because we can’t thing of any other reunion that has had this kind of impact.

Roll on the five nights at Heaton Park and strap in, folks, because you will never forget it.

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Featured Images — Oasis (via X)/Finnlay K (via Instagram)

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